Marvel Sneak Peek: New Avengers: Illuminati #3

Recently, whenever I’ve asked comic friends what their favorite title spanning event of all time was, a lot of them have responded “Marvel’s Secret Wars”. Fans of the series now have a chance to revisit The Secret Wars in New Avengers: Illuminati #3. Marvel has sent Major Spoilers a sneak peek of the issue that arrives this week!

NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI #3 (of 5)
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS AND BRIAN REED
Pencils and Cover by JIM CHEUNG
This action packed story from co-writers Brian Michael Bendis (New Avengers, Mighty Avengers) and Brian Reed (Ms. Marvel) also reveals the Beyonder’s untold origin…and how he’s connected to one of the Illuminati’s major players! Fan favorite Jim Cheung provides the gorgeous pencils for this issue, bringing you a titanic confrontation between the Illuminati and the Beyonder that you don’t want to miss.

About Author

Stephen Schleicher began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen has freelanced for Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog, and Gizmodo. Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment.
You can follow him on Twitter @MajorSpoilers and tell him your darkest secrets...

11 Comments

In this title, we have a doctor, an industrialist, two kings, and two professors, all positions of referent power. They’re all, TO A MAN, portrayed as manipulative sacks of crap.

Meanwhile, in New Avengers, we have a mostly-broke hero for hire and his family, a young photographer at the nadir of his life, a disenfranchised double-agent, a multiple times dead hotshot, the loner to end all loners… Even if we take into account another industrialist and the aforementioned doctor, (both of whom seem to be on the team less as heroes and more as functionaries [Iron Fist is the bankroll, Dr. Strange is the insurance policy against Herr Gruppenfuhrer Stark]) his heroes are either mavericks of a corrupt system, or somehow engulfed by and part of a corrupt system.

This may make for some interesting short-term stories, but it makes for a pretty bleak Marvel U.

Okay, what is with Marvel tearing down all these established characters, and making them less than they were. The Beyonder is an Inhuman? Why? I liked Beyonder just as he was, a mysterious being from another universe/reality. Why tear him down into a mere mortal? (For the record, I read the original Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars and *loved* it. Secret Wars 2 was “eh”.)

Short term, this might result in increased sales, but long term, I think Marvel’s going to need to restore some of these characters (Tony Stark, Beyonder, etc.) back to their former selves, or they might start losing their casual and hardcore readers.

“So, what’s the Beyonder?”
“It’s right there in the comic books. You tell me.”
“The Beyonder is a representation of an entire dimension!”
“No he isn’t.”
“Yes he is.”
“No he isn’t. Think more along the lines of a Cosmic Cube.”
“Okay…ah…he’s a Cosmic Cube!”
“No he isn’t.”
“Er…but you said…”
“No I didn’t.”
“Yes you did!”
“No, I did not. Try again.”
“Well, maybe he’s part…of…a larger…species?”
“Like a race of Beyonders?”
“Yes! A whole race of Beyonders!”
“So that’s where he comes from, eh?”
“Yes. Yes it is.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Arrg!!!”
“Look, the Beyonder kind of sucks anyway…”
“True, but…”
“So what’s the coolest thing to be in the Marvel Universe?”
“Songbird’s thong?”
“Second coolest.”
“A mutant?”
“Bingo.”
“So…the Beyonder is a…mutant?”
“No he isn’t.”
“But you just said…”
“Never mind what I just said. He isn’t human.”
“So…he’s an…In-human?”
“No he…wait…yes. Yes he is.”
“So it’s settled then?”
“No it isn’t.”
“Dammit. Well, what’s the deal with Hawkman?”
“It’s right there in the comic books. You tell me.”
“ARRRRRRGH!!!”

Well, a strong argument could be made that the Beyonder is an extremely minor character to begin with, but even he has his fans.

Marvel right now is being driven by writers who want to tell stories that haven’t been told before. Sometimes, that means good stories, sometimes bad. But the problem is, there’s a mentality that says that because a story hasn’t been told, it HAS to be done! Things like resurrecting Bucky, having Scarlet Witch lose her mind and rewrite reality, the silly underlying premise of Civil War, and returning Wolverine’s memories are being done NOT because they’re stories that someone has been dying to tell, but because they’re uncharted territory. And since Joe’s editorial model doesn’t discern any difference between GOOD attention and BAD attention, the fact that these stories cause a fuss in the world (especially the ones that get mainstream media attention) means that they MUST be good. Of course, five years from now, there’s going to be a new system, and a whole new series of retcons that don’t truly make sense to repair what are percieved as “problems” in the stories being done today.

I’m still waiting for Spider-Man’s secret identity to return. I believe it will, and I’m wondering if it will be sooner rather than later.

So, what’s the Beyonder?”
“It’s right there in the comic books. You tell me.”
“The Beyonder is a representation of an entire dimension!”
“No he isn’t.”
“Yes he is.”
“No he isn’t. Think more along the lines of a Cosmic Cube.”
“Okay…ah…he’s a Cosmic Cube!”
“No he isn’t.”
“Er…but you said…”
“No I didn’t.”
“Yes you did!”
“No, I did not. Try again.”
“Well, maybe he’s part…of…a larger…species?”
“Like a race of Beyonders?”
“Yes! A whole race of Beyonders!”
“So that’s where he comes from, eh?”
“Yes. Yes it is.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Arrg!!!”
“Look, the Beyonder kind of sucks anyway…”
“True, but…”
“So what’s the coolest thing to be in the Marvel Universe?”
“Songbird’s thong?”
“Second coolest.”
“A mutant?”
“Bingo.”
“So…the Beyonder is a…mutant?”
“No he isn’t.”
“But you just said…”
“Never mind what I just said. He isn’t human.”
“So…he’s an…In-human?”
“No he…wait…yes. Yes he is.”
“So it’s settled then?”
“No it isn’t.”
“Dammit. Well, what’s the deal with Hawkman?”
“It’s right there in the comic books. You tell me.”
“ARRRRRRGH!!!”

(Apologies to Monty Python.)

Do you have a copy of Ethel The Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying On Krypton?

Nay, I do not! But I do hope that World War Hulk is resolved by a Holy Hand Grenade.

I’m not the biggest Python fan in the world, but for my money, “The Argument Clinic” is one of the finest works of comedy ever performed. I am PROUD to type up a blatant half-assed rip-off instead of doing my job! EXCELSIOR!!!

You know, when I first heard of Civil War, I first thought it was a good thing. The base plan sounded good. Two sides to an argument, two teams of heroes fighting, good fun. After Civil War thou…

It was like Bendis had a vendetta against anyone with a modicom of power. The most powerful in Marvel suddenly went “smuck” and the world went to the toilet. It’s like Marvel liked Miller’s Dark Knight so much they decided to do the whole world like that. Bummer. I used to like Iron Man a lot and now the only way to salvage the suit IMHO is to put somebody else in it.

Still, I’m kinda okay with most of what has been done with Spiderman. The unmasking didn’t bother me, but it does raise the question of how they’re gonna go from there. How would they re-mask him anyway? Only way I see how is if a sane Scarlet Witch did it.

BTW, I don’t really count X-Men in my views of main Marvel since I feel that X-books often get treated as “another” dimention entirely anyways.